Cretinists and "The" Geological Column

This article is written to explain to people what a geologic column is and how creationists always tell untruths about.

What is a Geological Column?

From Glossary of Geology, American Geological Institute, Fourth Printing 1977:

Geologic column: (a) A composite diagram that shows in a single column the subdivisions of part or all of geologic time or the sequence of stratigraphic units of a given locality or region (the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top, with dips adjusted to the horizontal) so arranged to indicate their relations to the subdivision of geologic time and their relative positions to each other.

(b) The vertical or chronologic arrangement or sequence of rock units portrayed in a geologic column.

Normally geologists refer to time tables when referring to time scales or stratigraphic columns or tables when they refer to rocks in an area, but I won’t discuss this here.

Note that “The” geological column indicates time, not “rocks”, nor thicknesses. Just time and how we name the different time “periods”.

Creationists tend to tell that each of those time periods refer to “one rock layer” and is “supposed to be theoretically x metres thick”. Then they also tell untruths about “geologists using evolutionary assumptions” for “The” Geologic Column.

And then "polystrate" fossils are mentioned, too.

Which, of course are all ridiculous untruths they keep on spreading.

The way “the” geologic column was compiled.

This compilation started in 1669, with Steno’s superposition principle (basically that Sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top). Quite logical. Gravity.

“The” geological column was compiled with the aid of the fossil species found in rocks; especially with the use of index fossils who were of great value.

An index fossil basically is:Index fossils (also known as guide fossils, indicator fossils or zone fossils) are fossils used to define and identify geologic periods (or faunal stages). They work on the premise that, although different sediments may look different depending on the conditions under which they were laid down, they may include the remains of the same species of fossil. The best index fossils are common, easy-to-identify at species level, and have a broad distribution—otherwise the likelihood of finding and recognizing one in the two sediments is minor. (Altered Wiki article)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_fossil

They even have pictures of some index fossils.

These relative ages of the rocks were compiled by comparing which fossils were above which fossils; daisy-chaining around the world and giving these time-periods names. Any Ordovician fossil is thus younger than a Cambrian fossil, because Ordovician fossils occur above Cambrian fossils if you dig down.

What this means is that, for example, the Cambrian "Epoch" consists of thousands of “layers” of rock; different rocks in different parts of the world, and can also consist of lots of layers stacked one on the other at one location. All those “rocks” containing the same “index fossils” and are named “Cambrian”.

The name “Cambrian”, thus, does not reflect a rock or rocks or layers of rock, but a time period. When a geologist refers to “Cambrian strata”, they thus refer to a time period. (Exactly like a teenager is not 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 and 17 and 18 and 19 years old, but has an age falling in the teens).

Of all the major "Epochs" containing life, recognized today, only the Paleocene, Ordovician and the subdivisions of the Precambrian, were described after Darwin published in 1859. Everybody can thus see that the vast bulk of the geological column was thus configured before Darwin wrote “The Origin of Species”. That’s how he could use the fossil succession as evidence for evolution by means of natural selection. Evolution is the fact; natural selection is the theory.

These time periods were confirmed with the advent of absolute dating methods, such as radiometric dating, in the middle of the last century. Those showed that our relative dating was correct, but also gave us absolute dates. For example, the Cambrian lasted from around 600 million years ago to around 505 million years ago, thus a period lasting around 95 million years.

Consequences:

Next time some creationist, such as, Sydney.a.daniel, lies to you, tell him he is telling complete untruths. Laugh at him.

Sydney.a.daniel: Here is some more proof of a Creator/God: The Fossil Record...Evolutionists have constructed the Geologic Column in order to illustrate the supposed progression of "primitive" life forms to "more complex" systems we observe today.

Nope. Untrue.

The vast bulk of “The” Geologic Column was constructed way before Darwin wrote his wonderful book. The evolution of life is a fact, as witnessed by “The” geological column. Darwin used it as evidence for his theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection.

Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.

24.com publishes all comments posted on articles provided that they adhere to our Comments Policy. Should you wish to report a comment for editorial review, please do so by clicking the 'Report Comment' button to the right of each comment.

I believe, in the real world, life actually follows reasonable principles. Despite the baffle and Bull, the short term push and pull, even exploitation, eventually the multitude of forces kicks you back to reality. For us that simply means, if as a country we want to grow, we have to invest. Read more...

I constantly ask myself what is the point of everything? A complex question and awfully deep but I know it is a question not unique to me. Possibly many of you have had similar thoughts. But really what is the point of it all? Read more...

“Never” is an infectious word, like a flu virus. Once you’ve caught it, everything loses its sparkle. It’s commonplace to hear people say and swear that they will never do, forget or say something. Read more...

The article by Floyd Shivhambu on the absence of Dr. Blande Nzimande in the struggle is impressive in a highly qualified sense – the narrative and argumentation flow seamlessly to prove its point. Read more...

It is very disturbing and nauseating to witness that the North-West University Mafikeng Campus has lost reputation and respect as a result of dishonourable actions by a few groups of people who fail to fulfil the responsibilities of the positions they hold in the university. Read more...

Tell us a bit about yourself:

Saving your profile

Settings

News24 allows you to edit the display of certain components based on a location.
If you wish to personalise the page based on your preferences, please select a
location for each component and click "Submit" in order for the changes to
take affect.

Your Location*

Weather*

Always remember my setting

Saving your settings

Facebook Sign-In

Hi News addict,

Join the News24 Community to be involved in breaking the news.

Log in with Facebook to comment and personalise news, weather and listings.